Statement on Amendments to Conform PCAOB Rules and Forms to the Dodd-Frank Act and Make Certain Updates and Clarifications

The Dodd-Frank Act amended the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to provide the Board with authority to carry out the same types of oversight programs for audits of brokers and dealers that it has carried out with respect to audits of issuers. Conforming our rules and forms to the Dodd-Frank Act's amendments is an important step in the Board's implementation of its responsibility to oversee the audits of brokers and dealers.

While many of the amendments before us simply conform our rules and forms to Dodd-Frank and the SEC's Rule 17a-5, the PCAOB had discretion with respect to some of them to determine how to apply its regulatory requirements to broker-dealer audits. In those areas, I believe the recommended changes reflect the continued, thoughtful, and measured approach to oversight of broker-dealer audits that began with our interim inspection program.

Although the primary goal is to make the PCAOB's rules apply to audits of brokers and dealers, the amendments before the Board today will conform the Board's rules to other significant provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.

These include reflecting in our rules the Board's authority to share certain otherwise confidential documents with self-regulatory organizations and clarifying the Board's enforcement jurisdiction over persons formerly associated with registered public accounting firms.

I want to thank Nancy Doty and Vince Meehan of our Office of the General Counsel for bringing these proposed changes forward. I would also like to thank the SEC staff for their assistance and close consultation in this effort.